HS SOFTBALL: O’Grady works way out of jams to help Lee win

Published 5:01 pm, Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Lee High's Darby O'Grady winds up a pitch against Abilene High on Tuesday, March 24, 2015 at Gene Smith Field. James Durbin/Reporter-Telegram

Lee High's Darby O'Grady winds up a pitch against Abilene High on Tuesday, March 24, 2015 at Gene Smith Field. James Durbin/Reporter-Telegram

HS SOFTBALL: O’Grady works way out of jams to help Lee win

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The Lee softball team discovered Tuesday that it has a pitcher that won’t buckle in pressure situations.

Darby O’Grady pitched her way out of multiple jams, showing poise during the Lady Rebels’ 6-1 home victory over Abilene High in District 3-6A play.

O’Grady’s gutsy performance on the mound helped Lee (4-7, 2-1 District 3-6A) earn its first district win. The junior hurler tossed a complete game, while holding the Lady Eagles (7-6, 0-3 District 3-6A) to only four hits.

O’Grady didn’t pitch one clean inning as Abilene threatened with runners in scoring position in six of seven frames.

In the first six innings, the Lady Eagles came away empty handed every time as O’Grady made clutch pitches and got some help from her fielders.

“She got herself into trouble, but she also got herself out of trouble,” Lee head coach Wes Overton said. “You can say a lot about that. You’ve seen enough of this stuff before, people get themselves into trouble and they don’t have the mental toughness to bring themselves back and she did it. It’s hard on us in the dugout when she starts doing that, but if she can do it every time, then I guess I will have to live with it.”

In the first three innings, the Lady Rebels couldn’t muster one base runner versus Abilene starting pitcher Tori Bryant, so O’Grady’s “Houdini” act was instrumental in the victory.

In the second inning, the Lady Eagles threatened with two runners on and one out. Abilene’s Megan McGuiness hit a ball up the middle, but Lee shortstop Emily Nunez made a diving snag to prevent a hit and flipped it quickly to second baseman Brandi Kennedy for a force out.

O’Grady struck out the next batter swinging with a pitch that dropped out of the strike zone.

“Today my changeup was working really well,” O’Grady said. “That was the one I was throwing when I got ahead in those good counts with the batters. That was working really well today and it got a lot of outs for us.”

Rebels third baseman Cidney Martin made two fine fielding plays to get O’Grady out of jams in the first and third inning.

“I kind of got myself into them too with some walks and hit batters, but I knew I had my defense behind me to help me out,” O’Grady said. “I just continued pitching and we got the outs.”

In the fourth stanza, Lee broke the game open with four runs, while sending nine batters to the plate. Molly Abalos singled with a squeeze, scoring Sarah Welsh from third base, sparking the Lady Rebels’ scoring surge.

Lee added two more runs in the fifth frame when Rosie Marquez singled home a pair.

O’Grady appeared to get stronger as the game got deeper, striking out five Lady Eagles batters during the fourth through sixth innings.

While O’Grady did issue four walks and hit one batter, much of her troubles stem from possessing stuff that moves so much and breaks at the last instant.

“Her ball does move a lot,” Overton said. “Sometimes I don’t think she knows exactly how much it’s going to move, but it does move, which is a good thing.”

Luckily, O’Grady’s movement didn’t seem to trouble Lady Rebels freshman catcher Kirklynd Newsom, who did a flawless job of receiving with no passed balls or dropped third strikes.

“Sometimes I just look at my glove and (say) ‘ahh, I caught it!’” Newsom said. “Yeah, most of the time, I know the intensity level (of her pitches) and I know where she is going to go and I know how her pitches are going to react. And sometimes I even know, ‘OK, I probably know this batter is going to swing at it so I prepare myself before the pitch even comes.’”